KB housekeeping sweep: end-of-arc staleness purge (2026-08-06)

Corrections (wrong claims fixed + swept):
- open-questions: the DuckState 'no CODE consumer, authentic [T1]' verdict
  RETRACTED (consumer = the unexported posture block; squat clips shipped in
  BTL4.RES all along); the searchlight fog swap re-marked DONE (was 'STILL
  DEFERRED'); crouch index pointer updated.
- combat-damage: old task-#60 kill-score section marked SUPERSEDED by the
  report tail (BTPostKillScore retired).
- pod-hardware: crouch census rows -> COMPLETE; gauges-hud: 07-20 note
  (generators 'unreconstructed') re-swept.

New knowledge:
- reconstruction-gotchas #20: EXPORT-GAP BLINDNESS (4 incidents, 2 falsely
  T1; the byte-scan/named-member/RES-TOC/manifest checklist) + the
  verification-viewpoint bullet in #13 (the crouch capture errors).
- decomp-reference: master posture/crouch block offsets (+0x3f8/+0x79c, the
  myomers cluster) + 8 new bench env gates.
- rendering: beam-material decode (btfx brighten) + look-pass acceptance.
- experience-levels: crouch novice lockout in the +0x25c consumer list.
- build-and-run: the stale-link build ritual; test-harness: bench-script
  gotchas (both previously oral tradition).
- glossary: export-gap-blindness; multiplayer: crouch/searchlight ride
  existing records; subsystems: searchlight visuals pointer.

Status refresh: CLAUDE.md front + project-overview current-state -> core
gameplay reconstruction COMPLETE (774->801), polish phase, #60 census next.
Ledger addenda: INPUT_PATH row 6 complete; RESPAWN_REARM VehicleDead-sender
note. .gitignore: content/ bench artifacts (pngs/logs/eggs/exe) out of
status. checkctx CLEAN.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

context/test-harness.md

@@ -189,6 +189,21 @@ sleep <duration>; kill $relay; bt_kill_ours
   (one line, ungated) answer questions retroactively; per-frame traces stay
   gated.
 
+## Bench-script gotchas (each has burned a session)
+- **Write benches CLEAN, never sed-derive a chain** — sed-derived copies silently dropped envs
+  twice (the [replgimp] silence); export envs INSIDE the per-node subshell.
+- **Absolute paths everywhere; `cd /c/git/bt411` first** — the cwd trap (heredoc python + `cd
+  scratchpad/nightN`) has broken later builds/appends with `fatal: pathspec`/`cannot stat`.
+- **No apostrophes/backticks through bash heredocs** — write a `.py` file and run it (quoting has
+  mangled posted tracker comments and killed scripts mid-parse).
+- **Drain stale watchdogs before relaunching** — a leftover waiter's `taskkill` has killed a live
+  bench mid-run.
+- **Scripted input goes through the REAL seam**: `BT_BTNTEST`/`BT_BTNTEST2` (RIO queue → mode-mask
+  drain). In 2-node runs press at poll ≥900 — round-start jitter can eat earlier presses.
+- **Capture the viewpoint that can see the change** (gotcha #13 bullet): cockpit view can't show
+  your own legs; pair screenshots with a state probe and READ a frame before concluding.
+- **Build ritual first** — see [[build-and-run]] §Build ritual (stale exe = phantom results).
+
 ## Key Relationships
 - Uses: [[build-and-run]] (parity, env gates, BT_SHOT capture) · [[experience-levels]] (expert vs novice gating)
 - Informs: [[reconstruction-method]] (step 4 "verify honestly" — this file is the how)